Brighton by the Sea
by phabulousphantom
Summary: Being an account of Grelle and Sebastian's much-requested Brighton 125th anniversary party, this story is a follow-up to Let the Living Creature Lie.
1. 1

Auden never would have guessed that Sebastian and Grelle had so many friends. From the moment she and Ronald had walked into the hotel, she'd been meeting them. Sascha and Ludger, two Shinigami all the way from Germany, had been checking in when they'd come through the front door. Othello was headed out of his room next to Auden's when she'd received her room key and gone up. More Shinigami in the lobby and the atrium, sitting at the bar and still arriving, even a couple of demons who kept to themselves, eyeing the other guests in amusement, all of them shaking hands with Auden as she was introduced by Grelle or Sebastian, just one person after another until her head was spinning at trying to keep them all straight. There was just one individual who stood out from the group: an older woman with shining grey hair who was distinct in being the only human.

"I've been around the block a few times, darling," she'd said and laughed when Auden had spluttered out a question about how she: one, knew about Shinigami and demons, and two, felt safe in such a gathering of them.

Her name was Madge and she was also the party planner.

Dinner was scheduled in the Grand's Empress Suite that night and Auden was relieved to get away from the social atmosphere for a moment to change. Her room was quiet, the window that faced the sea open to let in the breeze, the sound of the waves mostly washing over the slight traffic on the street. Everything felt so soft—pastels and whites, cushions and clear glass table tops. She sat in a velvet armchair and just watched the water for a few minutes even though she should have been getting ready.

When she did finally go into the bathroom to fix her hair, the black fluffy dress she and Grelle had picked out weeks ago snug on her shoulders, a small leather box was waiting for her on the counter. She'd been trying to remember what Grelle had called the fabric her dress was made out of—organza something—when she saw it. There was a little notecard set on top that said, "Forgive me for my impatience. These are for you," in Sebastian's elegant script. Inside the box was a pair of diamond earrings. Auden swallowed, certain they were real.

She put them on and brushed her hair, trying hard not to fall too much in love with the way the bathroom lights made the diamonds sparkle when she moved her head, finally gathering all the strands of her hair up into a slick bun. She stood and looked at her reflection for a moment. Who was this person looking back at her in the expensive dress with the sleek black hair, glowing green eyes, and diamond earrings? It was not her, not who she _was,_ but maybe who she was meant to be.

Excited now, she slipped on her heels and left her room, traveling quickly down the carpeted halls to the stairs that went to the lobby. A glance at a grandfather clock on one of the landings told her she was cutting it close, and everyone else must have been in the suite already. Sebastian, however, was standing in the lobby at the bottom of the staircase when she got there.

He smiled up at her and she smiled back, feeling a little like a princess in a film as she stepped carefully down to meet him, sliding her hand down the polished wood banister.

"You look lovely," he said, looking lovely himself in a tailored suit and tails that seemed to fit him better than anything Auden had ever seen him wear before.

"Thank you," she said, making the slightest motion at her ears.

"I'm glad you decided to wear them," he replied. "They are to your liking?"

It seemed to Auden that a pair of diamond earrings were to _everyone's_ liking, but she just smiled again and nodded, not sure how to express what it felt like to be cared about enough to be given a gift like that.

"Why are you out here?" she asked.

"Grelle is still getting ready," he replied. "We are supposed to enter together."

"Ah." She nodded. Grelle _did_ like to take her time getting ready.

"You are welcome to wait with me," Sebastian continued. "If you'd like."

Auden nodded. Grelle had kept her dress a secret, only winking at Auden when they'd gone shopping for hers and she had asked what Grelle was wearing. They didn't have long to wait, however, as Grelle appeared at the top of the stairs just a few moments later.

Her hair looked somehow redder than before, a bright and luminous shade that shined in the waves that fell gathered over her right shoulder. The dress was blue, a color that could only be described as electric. Long sleeves and a deep V that ended just below her sternum, a cutout across her shoulders and down to the end of her spine in the back. The fabric hugged close to her until it reached the middle of her thigh where it fell cascading into a full skirt and train. She walked so gracefully it almost looked like water.

Auden glanced at Sebastian and he was staring at Grelle, leaned toward her slightly, the hint of an astonished smile on his mouth, eyes sparkling. For some reason, it suddenly made Auden want to cry, but not sad tears. Happy ones. The kind people cry at weddings or when babies are born. The way he looked at her… Auden had never seen anyone look at another person like that in all her life.

"Hello," Grelle said through a smile, coming to a stop on the stair just before the bottom.

Sebastian took her hand and lifted it to his lips to give her knuckles a fervent kiss. He looked up at her then and they looked at each other, smiling and smiling, but the smiles were small and were more of a feeling in the air, and Auden smiled at them, at the way they seemed only to see each other.

"You are radiant," Sebastian said.

"Thank you," Grelle replied. "You look very handsome yourself."

He kissed her hand again and she laughed, smiling at him before turning that smile on Auden. Reaching out, Grelle took hold of her hand and squeezed it.

"Shall we?" she said.

* * *

 _Author's Note: More to come, more to come! I'm sorry this is short, but I wanted to get an update out for you guys, and since the other story is very Grelle-less at the moment, I opted for Brighton to keep our spirits up. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned_ Wholly Given Over, _I just thought we all could do with a refreshing change of pace._


	2. 2

Auden went into the dining room first and found her place in between Ronald and Madge on the table nearest the one where Sebastian and Grelle would be seated. She was the last into the room and just a moment after she sat down, Grelle and Sebastian came in. Everyone clapped when they entered, cheering and whistling and it made Grelle laugh and Sebastian smile and they kissed when someone started clinking their glasses with the silverware and others joined in.

"Thank you _all_ so much for coming," Grelle said, tucking her arm into Sebastian's. "We're honored to have you here to celebrate with us. And seeing as we're already a little late as it is, let's eat!"

She clapped her hands together and Sebastian headed for their table and several staff members and waiters from the hotel came into the room. Auden could barely hold herself back from starting in on the creamy soup that was set down in front of her until everyone else had a bowl as well.

"Grelle told me you're the reaper she's been mentoring," Madge said, glancing over at Auden as she picked up her spoon.

Auden already had a mouthful of soup and swallowed awkwardly as she tried to answer. "Um… Yeah. I am. She's been my trainer for a while now."

"I'm sure having Grelle as your teacher has been a roller coaster."

Auden pulled a face. "You have no idea."

Madge laughed and let a beat of silence pass between them. Auden felt obligated to continue the conversation.

"How do you know Sebastian and Grelle?" she asked.

"They were my neighbors in Liverpool when I was a girl," Madge replied, smiling. "Of course they looked _very_ different back then, but as far back as I can remember all of us kids were going down to the Harlands' house for treats after school." She laughed at the memory, and the reaper sitting on her other side asked a question about some of the décor, so that was all Auden learned.

She wondered through the next course and the one after that how it was that Madge had come to find out who Grelle and Sebastian really were, and how they had kept in touch all these years. She also wanted to ask what it had been like to be a teenager in Liverpool in the sixties, if Madge or Grelle or Sebastian or all of them had ever gone to see the Beatles, but Grelle stood up to give a toast before Auden had worked up the courage.

The bustle of table chatter quieted and everyone turned their eyes to Grelle, who smiled.

"I know how many of you are shocked to be here," she began. "But, here we are. When Sebastian and I first became acquainted with each other, I never thought that this would be where we'd end up. The last hundred and twenty-five years have been…" She thought for a moment, then chuckled, having decided on a word. "Taxing. For so many reasons. And I cannot imagine how I would have navigated them without Sebastian. My darling, I love you. Thank you for standing by my side through everything. Thick and thin." She raised her glass. "To life, and love, and overcoming all the rubbish the universe sends our way. To new beginnings. And the next hundred and twenty-five years. Cheers."

"Cheers," the room answered, Auden included, and Grelle drank from her glass, so they all did the same. Sebastian stood up next.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little shocked to be here myself," he said and most everyone laughed, a gentle roll that passed through the room. "But we are all here because of our love for this incredible, albeit rather bizarre, woman sitting beside me." He glanced at Grelle and smiled. "She brings a passion into the lives of everyone she meets. She breathes a fire that ignites us and binds us to her and keeps us here, always coming back though years may pass, because to leave her would be unimaginable. It has been a privilege to spend the last twelve decades of my life by her side." He raised his glass. "To Grelle."

"To Grelle."

They drank and Sebastian sat down, and the chatter resumed as dessert was served. Auden kept her eye on Grelle and Sebastian, watched as they spoke softly for a moment, words she couldn't hear under the bustle, and Sebastian brought himself forward to kiss Grelle. One that was just for her and not for anyone else, not for show. It was so quiet and private and gentle and it made Auden grateful and thrilled to be able to spend the rest of her life with people like these.

After dinner there was dancing, and after dancing the party broke apart until morning, Auden falling into the plush covers on her bed and sleeping the most soundly she had in ages.


	3. 3

Grelle stood on the balcony of their suite, the breeze sending her hair back every so often as she looked out at the sea and the stars barely visible in the light from the city. One hundred and twenty-five years. Forty-five thousand six hundred and twenty-five days spent with her and all Sebastian could think as he watched her was that it was not enough.

She'd changed out of her gown, but did not need expensive clothing to be beautiful. He loved the way the moonlight caught that pale glow on her long legs, the curve where her neck became her shoulders. She had let her hair down, but it still held some of the curl. He was sitting on the bed, removing his shoes finally, thinking as her fingers flexed over the balcony railing that he'd like to kiss every one of their tips.

"How do you do it?" he asked.

She looked at him, laughing. "Do what?"

"Make me so absolutely mad for you." He set his shoes together next to the bed, aligning them perfectly. "I have to say, it's very uncharacteristic for a demon."

"I disagree," Grelle said and smiled when he looked up at her. "Demons are some of the most obsessive creatures I know."

Rising, Sebastian went to her, slid his hands around her middle to draw her into his arms, pressed a kiss against that moonlight skin on her neck.

"And reapers are some of the most vexing," he replied.

She laughed softly, taking hold of one of his hands and leaning her shoulders into his chest, pressing her back against him as well to be as close as she possibly could. They stood like that for a moment, listening to the sounds of the ocean in front and the city behind, sleepy with the hour but not altogether quiet.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Grelle said, stroking the fingers on the hand of his she held. "Looking at that frame in the water and remembering when it was a pier?" She laughed again. "And when there wasn't a pier there at all?"

Sebastian looked up, out over the balcony, resting his chin on Grelle's shoulder. The remnants of the West Pier were barely visible between the sea and the night sky, water breaking around the beams that held it aloft. The visits he'd paid to Brighton before the pier had gone up in 1866 were hardly filed under his "remarkable" tab. What _was_ remarkable was walking through Rome two summers ago, looking at ruins of palaces he had helped to build, but he supposed on Grelle's timeline, the pier very well could have been Rome.

"Indeed, my love."

Grelle made a little contented noise at the back of her throat and was quiet. In a few thousand years, archaeologists wouldn't even know the West Pier had been there, just like they knew little about so many ancient cultures now. But Sebastian would remember, and so would Grelle, and they would come to whatever had become of Brighton and stand on this very spot and remember how long one hundred and twenty-five years had seemed at the time, and laugh at how naïve they'd been, and perhaps have celebrated one hundred and twenty-five years ten times over by then.

Straightening, Sebastian brought one of his hands to Grelle's face and turned her chin up to kiss her. She smiled, shifting her feet so she could face him, hug her arms around his neck. Another moment in the embrace, and Sebastian was picking her up. She drew back, above him now in his arms, and looked down into his eyes, smiling.

"Happy anniversary," she said.

He lifted one of her hands from the place it had fallen onto on his shoulder and brought it to his lips to kiss her fingertips. "Happy anniversary," he replied.


	4. 4

The following morning there was breakfast at the Grand, then free time until lunch at Palm Court on the pier. The party separated to do as they pleased—shop the Lanes, head down to the marina, ride the Brighton Eye, tour the Royal Pavilion, and Grelle and Sebastian were simply headed to the beach and that was what Auden wanted to do, so she joined them. Ronald, too.

They carried towels down and rented a couple of beach chairs to set up on the rocks. Auden had put on her swimming suit, but the second she stuck her feet in the water, she went straight back out, cursing about how cold it was. Sebastian had just laughed at her, an I-told-you-so glint in his eye. Grelle lay out on her towel and as Auden bundled into a sweatshirt and pulled the hood up over her head, teeth chattering, she marveled how she could stand to be in only in a swimsuit. The sun was out, but the breeze was cold. Auden sat on her chair next to Ronald and shivered.

Sebastian spent a moment rearranging the rocks on the beach before lying down perpendicular to Grelle and resting his head on her stomach. Auden watched them quietly, wondering how it was that two people came to spend one hundred and twenty-five years together. Grelle brushed her fingers through Sebastian's hair and eventually closed her eyes, continuing the motion absently. His head rose and fell on her stomach with her breath, and as she started to drift off, she must have forgotten he was there, because the motion of her hand stopped and she just rested it on top of his nose and mouth and Sebastian bit her finger.

"Ow! Stop it!"

"Well, don't put your hand on my face."

In response, Grelle mashed her hand _all over_ Sebastian's face, which didn't end up working out so well for her, since he sat up immediately, turned around, scooped her up into his arms and went running across the rocks straight to the water.

"No no no no no no no!"

Grelle shrieked the whole way down, and was still shrieking as Sebastian got just deep enough to where he could toss her in and she probably wouldn't hit the bottom. She came up with a gasp, coughing and spluttering, her hair a wet and heavy curtain over her face, though it didn't hide her glare. He laughed at her and she fumed, tackling him and knocking him over.

When they resurfaced, Sebastian was still laughing. Grelle snapped something at him and stood up, sending a splash his way which he didn't bother to dodge, but just shielded his face by turning his head. She whipped her hair back over her shoulder and waded out of the water, carefully picking her way back up the beach, obviously not amused at all. Sebastian followed shortly after her, snickering.

"It's not funny, Sebastian," she pouted, plopping down on her towel and picking up a second one which she wrapped around her shoulders.

"Oh, come on." He sat down behind her. "It was fun."

"It was _not_ fun. It's _freezing._ "

" _Fun._ "

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

Grelle smiled and tucked her knees up against her chest to wrap her whole self in her towel. Sebastian separated out her hair and began weaving it into a braid. Auden sat and watched them discreetly, her chin rested on her own knees, her hood still pulled up over her head, admiring the gentleness Sebastian took as he wove Grelle's hair into an elaborate plait, the contented way she closed her eyes and let him.

"What's on your mind?" Ronald asked and gave her a little sideways nudge to get her attention. She glanced at him, and then at her toes.

"I don't know," she replied into her sleeves. "Just that…even after so much time together they still seem so…" She trailed off, but he picked up the thread.

"In love?"

She shrugged. It didn't seem fair. Why couldn't everybody have a relationship like that?

Ronald seemed to catch onto her mood. He mulled the thought over for a moment before he spoke. "They weren't always that way, you know— _well._ I guess Sebastian wasn't." He chuckled and shook his head. "He used to despise Grelle, though Grelle's always been in love with him."

Auden sat up. "Really?"

"Really. Couldn't stand the sight of her. Actually tried to kill her—and me—on multiple occasions. To be fair though, Grelle was—" He laughed, apparently unable to find the right word for a second. "Pretty awful."

Auden's mouth fell open. He couldn't possibly be telling the truth. Sebastian and Grelle were…well they were _Sebastian and Grelle._ They were like no other couple Auden had ever seen or heard of, and sure, they weren't perfect or anything, far from, but they loved each other pretty perfectly, and seemed to understand one another so well, it just didn't make any sense that at one point in the past that they _hadn't_ been the way they were. Much less that Sebastian had _hated_ Grelle. The way Auden had seen him look at her it just didn't seem possible.

"They've struggled through a lot, those two," Ronald continued. "I doubt if there's anything in this world that could separate them now."

She looked at him and he smiled.

"Hey, you're supposed to be sentimental at an anniversary party, right? That's the whole point." He laughed and elbowed her again. "Come on, let's go to the pier. I'll win you something."

Ronald got up, so Auden followed and they picked their way slowly up the beach to the sidewalk, headed toward the pier. Eventually they had to go up to the street, falling easily into the flow of people traffic headed the same direction. Ronald took her to the Dome, digging a ridiculous mountain of change and a couple of notes out of his pockets.

Auden held onto the change while he went to a machine to exchange the notes for coins, retrieving a plastic cup from a stack of plastic cups provided for exactly the purpose of holding your money and it suddenly struck her how perfectly ordinary the two of them looked. They were just two friends out for a day at the pier together, ready to waste their money playing pointless games for worthless prizes, but to have fun doing it all the same. She looked down at the one and two pence coins in the plastic cup, a couple of fives and tens mixed in, silver among the copper. She was a Shinigami, a soul collector. A few weeks ago she'd _died._ How was it that her afterlife had suddenly become so joyfully mundane? She'd never done things like this as a human.

Ronald came back with the change from the machine, pouring half of it into Auden's cup. The sound and sudden added weight startled her and he laughed.

"What's first?" he asked.

"Air hockey," Auden replied.

She wanted to kick his ass.


End file.
